Sheep Welfare in Extensive Hill Farming

Hill and upland sheep farming in the UK, New Zealand, and elsewhere involves keeping sheep on large open ranges with limited human contact. The welfare challenges of extensive sheep systems differ from intensive farming but are equally important.

Key Facts

The UK has approximately 32 million sheep, many on upland or hill farms with extensive management
Ewes on hill farms may lamb outdoors in April-May with minimal shepherd intervention in extensive systems
Flystrike kills an estimated 1-3% of hill sheep annually due to limited surveillance opportunities
Sheep in extensive systems may go weeks without individual inspection making welfare monitoring challenging
Internal parasites including nematodes cause significant welfare harm in hill sheep with high worm burdens
Footrot and foot scald cause painful lameness in sheep on wet hill ground affecting up to 10% of flocks
Hill sheep deaths from exposure, starvation during severe weather, and falls are higher than in intensive systems

Welfare Considerations

Extensive hill sheep farming creates welfare challenges arising from the difficulty of monitoring and treating individual animals in large open environments. Flystrike causing maggot infestation of living skin causes extreme suffering and death if not detected early. The welfare problem is the gap between detection and treatment in extensive systems where individual inspection is infrequent. Internal parasites cause chronic malnutrition and immune suppression. Lameness from footrot is painful and progressive without treatment. Extended walking on rough terrain with lameness causes substantial welfare harm. Weather mortality during late spring snowstorms affects newly born lambs and their mothers. Good stockmanship in extensive systems requires higher frequency monitoring, particularly during lambing, to identify and treat welfare problems before they cause prolonged suffering.

What You Can Do

Support precision livestock farming technology enabling remote welfare monitoring of hill sheep
Advocate for welfare standards appropriate to extensive systems rather than applying intensive farm benchmarks
Choose lamb and mutton from farms with documented stockmanship standards and monitoring frequency
Support training programmes in extensive sheep welfare management for hill farmers
Engage with agricultural bodies on welfare monitoring requirements for large extensive sheep flocks
Learn about the specific welfare challenges of hill farming systems for honest welfare discussions